Hungarian President: ‘We won’t send our sons and husbands to battlefield’

Hungary and Slovenia continue to nurture and build good relations, President Katalin Novák said after meeting Slovenian counterpart Natasa Pirc Musar in Budapest on Wednesday.

Novák noted that Hungary is Pirc Musar’s first official port of call after her election, and their talks focused on the war in Ukraine, prospects for the European integration of the Western Balkans, as well as bilateral cooperation, national minorities and demographics, she added.

Pirc Musar and Novák agreed on condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine and finding a quick route to peace, and seeking allies to achieve this. Peace in the region and Europe “is at stake,” she said. Ukraine should not be “encouraged to harbour irrational expectations regarding the aid they get: we won’t send our sons and husbands onto the battlefield,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region is home to 150,000 Hungarians fighting to restore their acquired rights, she said. If Ukraine aspires to become a European country, it should live up to European standards, she added. At the same time, Hungary has accepted and aided some 1.5 million refugees since the start of the war, she added.

Novák also said the situation of minorities was “exemplary” in Hungary and Slovenia, and “set an example for how to support and honour minority citizens”. The EU has an interest in the integration of the Western Balkans, and the process should be speeded up, she added.

Meanwhile, Hungary is working to curb its dependency on Russian energy, and counts on Slovenian support in this, she said. Novák also invited Pirc Musar to a demographics summit in Budapest in September, saying that challenges in the field had an impact on Europe as a whole. Responding to a question, Novák said noted she would receive Pope Francis in her office in the Sandor Palace next week, and they would together pray for peace in Ukraine.

Orbán: Hungary and Slovenia can count on each other

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán received Natasa Pirc Musar, the president of Slovenia, in his office in Budapest on Wednesday, MTI reported.

As good neighbours, Hungary and Slovenia can always count on each other, Orbán said at the meeting. Ties between the people and economic players of the two countries are also strong, he said. The Hungarian and Slovene national minorities serve as a bridge between the two countries, Orbán said.

At the meeting, Orbán and Pirc Musar discussed the issue of European security with a focus on the war in Ukraine and the possibilities of promoting peace.

They both underlined the importance of the integration of the Western Balkan region with the European Union.